Categories
Human embryos Stem cell research

Expansion of Embryonic Stem Cell Research

David Prentice has a very helpful article, Stem Cell Bill Ignores Patients and Real Science, on The Hill blog. It contains links to prior legislation, an NIH report and ongoing litigation regarding government funding of ESCR.

Categories
Assisted suicide Euthanasia Organ Donation

Wesley Smith on Organ Donation and Suicide

At the First Things blog Wesley Smith comments on a tragic story of a 12-year Indian girl who commited suicide to provide organs for her father and brother.

Categories
Abortion Constitutionality Contraception Fetal pain Legislation Planned Parenthood Politics

Cost of Unplanned Pregnancies and Laws on Fetal Pain

UFL member Michael New has some interesting observations on the Guttmacher Institute’s new report estimating the cost of unplanned pregnancies here and a brief comment on the NYT report regarding the passage of laws related to fetal pain here.

Categories
Abortion Asia Feminism Feticide Sex-selection abortion

Abortion and Increased Sex Trade

Chuck Colson reflects on the connection between sex-selective abortions and the increased demand for prostitution in a post here. He mentions a law review article by two Loyola law students, Kristi Lemoine & John Tanagho, Gender Discrimination Fuels Sex-Selective Abortion: The Impact of the Indian Supreme Court on the Implementation and Enforcement of the PNDT […]

Categories
Assisted suicide Europe Euthanasia International

“Abandoning the disabled to assisted suicide in the UK”

That is the title of a recent blog post by Wesley Smith. Here is the lead paragraph of the post– “The UK is falling off a vertical moral cliff on the assisted suicide issue.  It remains a crime.  But the Public Prosecutor of England and Wales has stated that if, after a complete investigation, it […]

Categories
Abortion Literary Treatment

Frank Zapatka post on another mystery by Ralph McInerny

Courtesy of Frank Zapatka, here is a commentary on Ralph McInerny’s The Prudence of the Flesh.  The Prudence of the Flesh (2006), the 25th of Ralph McInerny’s 26 “Father Dowling Myster[ies]” is another of several  of his mysteries in which the life issues are involved. In this one, the relevant passages are paraphrased and quoted in the […]

Categories
Advance directives Assisted suicide Death and dying Hospice Religious views

DNR’s, dementia, and assisted suicide

The Chicago Tribune has an opinion piece today entitled Do not resusictate . . . do not feel remorse. The author describes her mother’s last year of life, struggling with old age and dementia. The mother ultimately dies at home after the family refused to allow a feeding tube. The author also briefly considers how […]

Categories
Chronic pain Death and dying Health Care Reform Hospice

Do we need more oversight of hospice care?

In The Truth Behind the Hospice Numbers J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, responds to criticisms of poor oversight and rising hospice payments by government.

Categories
Abortion Central America Medical abortion Pharmacies

New article on Mexican Pharmacies Sale of RU-486

RU-486 has been available and used to induce abortions in Mexico since 2007. It is available from local pharmacies without prescription. A new study, How Often and Under Which Circumstances Do Mexican Pharmacy Vendors Recommend Misoprostol to Induce an Abortion, reports on exchanges between pharmacists and simulated clients (a young woman, an adult woman and […]

Categories
Abortion Africa Asia Australia Canada Central America Europe International South America

New article on abortion trends worldwide

The new issue of International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Rights contains an article entitled Legal Abortion Worldwide in 2008. The article surveys reports from the 77 nations that permit abortion to perserve a woman’s mental or physical health. The article critiques collection of abortion statistics, noting that most “official” reports are incomplete. The United […]